Earliest example of tag champs who hate each other?

[Celexa Bliss 54]

I was just watching a review of King of the Ring 97, where Austin and Michaels did this trope and it got me wondering, what is the earliest case of a company using this particular trope? Shawn and Austin is the earliest I can remember for WWF, but was it done earlier by another company? I wouldn't count Sting and Luger, since even when they argued, they were still best friends and it didn't hinder their ability to work as a team. I'm talking two guys who were clearly not friends and were forced to be tag team partners against their will, to the detriment of their ability to function as a unit.

[horsemen4ever]

Ole Anderson and Thunderbolt Patersen.

David Von Erich and the Freebirds, they were 6 man tag champions.

[Ash Whenzday]

I remember a DVD set I bought from Walmart called wrestling gold. It managed to compile 5 discs worth of matches from the glory days of the territories. Gino Hernandez and Tully Blanchard were challenging for the tag titles against The Grapplers. Gino accidentally bumps Tully off the apron, makes his own comeback and ends up pinning one of the Grapplers. Tully finally regained consciousness and did a heel turn on Gino, who he is now tag partners with. Unsure which promotion this from, or even if I have all the participants remembered correctly. I would guess early to mid-eighties Texas.

[Joe Neglia]

Jerry Lawler and pretty much anyone he teamed up with in Memphis. Usual way it happened was the other guy would feud with Lawler, turn face after a beatdown from a heel team/stable and then come out wanting to be Lawler's partner against them. This was almost always done with interviews that included "I still don't like you, but I need you to help me fight them" type stuff.

[cabbageboy]

Yeah take your pick of Lawler partners here: Dundee, Idol, Valiant, even Jos LeDuc teamed with him at one point after cutting himself with an ax to vow and oath to destroy Lawler.

I'd say Van Dam and Sabu in ECW predated the Austin/Michaels deal. These guys spent most of 1996 in a vicious feud and then I think both had problems with Furnas and Kroffat/Lafon, which caused them to unite. But even then when Alfonso managed them later RVD always tormented and made fun of Sabu.

[horsemen4ever]

It is later, but let me mention I really liked the Raven and Tommy Dreamer team. The story made sense that Raven and Dreamer would unite against the Dudleys, not because Raven liked Dreamer, but because he hated the Dudleys as much as Dreamer did for what they did to the girl they both cared about in 98.

[mrpeacock]

Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson.....oh you meant In storyline

[BlackoutCreature]

Jun 1, 2020 16:56:24 GMT -5 Ash Whenzday said:

I remember a DVD set I bought from Walmart called wrestling gold. It managed to compile 5 discs worth of matches from the glory days of the territories. Gino Hernandez and Tully Blanchard were challenging for the tag titles against The Grapplers. Gino accidentally bumps Tully off the apron, makes his own comeback and ends up pinning one of the Grapplers. Tully finally regained consciousness and did a heel turn on Gino, who he is now tag partners with. Unsure which promotion this from, or even if I have all the participants remembered correctly. I would guess early to mid-eighties Texas.

This sounds like Southwest Championship Wrestling, Joe Blanchard's territory out of San Antonio. Tully and Gino as a heel duo were a major draw for the territory in the early 80's.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Cain and Abel. For some reason Cagematch.net doesn’t list the handicap match they had against Terry Funk.

[Deleted]

I was watching a WWWF October 1978 MSG show recently where Peter Maivia & Jay Strongbow are a team but hate eachother.They ended up losing to The Yukon Lumberjack when after arguing for a few minutes Maivia turned on Strongbow.

[Jumpin' Jesse Walsh]

Jun 1, 2020 16:56:24 GMT -5 Ash Whenzday said:

I remember a DVD set I bought from Walmart called wrestling gold. It managed to compile 5 discs worth of matches from the glory days of the territories. Gino Hernandez and Tully Blanchard were challenging for the tag titles against The Grapplers. Gino accidentally bumps Tully off the apron, makes his own comeback and ends up pinning one of the Grapplers. Tully finally regained consciousness and did a heel turn on Gino, who he is now tag partners with. Unsure which promotion this from, or even if I have all the participants remembered correctly. I would guess early to mid-eighties Texas.

I still have this set and remember this one vividly.

Wrestling Gold is such a diamond in the rough. Really helped introduce me to territory wrestling.

[Mozenrath]

Jun 3, 2020 9:24:47 GMT -5 KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! said:

Cain and Abel. For some reason Cagematch.net doesn’t list the handicap match they had against Terry Funk.

They got so much heat with the crowd, given it was Terry's retirement tour.

[jason1980s]

Jun 3, 2020 16:54:37 GMT -5 Jumpin' Jesse Walsh said:

Wrestling Gold is such a diamond in the rough. Really helped introduce me to territory wrestling.

Is that the same wrestling gold as the vhs tapes sold at outlet toy stores in the early 90s? Those were really cool.

Also, I think it would have been good to have Ringmaster and Savio as a tag champ team while feuding with each other. Both guys could have really used a good storyline and it would have been more interesting than the title hand off between Body Donnas, Godwinns and Smoking Gunns where no team was really over, it was all Sunny.

[SmashTV]

Did I hear that Martel and Santana weren’t overly chummy in real life during their Strike Force days?

[Joe Neglia]

Jun 4, 2020 12:41:28 GMT -5 SmashTV said:

Did I hear that Martel and Santana weren’t overly chummy in real life during their Strike Force days?

I've heard/read varying stories on this. Generally, the consensus seems to be they didn't hate each other or anything, they just didn't really click personally and weren't thrilled to be put in a team together with little say so over the matter.

Jun 2, 2020 2:41:41 GMT -5 BlackoutCreature said:

Jun 1, 2020 16:56:24 GMT -5 Ash Whenzday said:

I remember a DVD set I bought from Walmart called wrestling gold. It managed to compile 5 discs worth of matches from the glory days of the territories. Gino Hernandez and Tully Blanchard were challenging for the tag titles against The Grapplers. Gino accidentally bumps Tully off the apron, makes his own comeback and ends up pinning one of the Grapplers. Tully finally regained consciousness and did a heel turn on Gino, who he is now tag partners with. Unsure which promotion this from, or even if I have all the participants remembered correctly. I would guess early to mid-eighties Texas.

This sounds like Southwest Championship Wrestling, Joe Blanchard's territory out of San Antonio. Tully and Gino as a heel duo were a major draw for the territory in the early 80's.

Yeah, this isn't really an example of the thread topic, as the Dynamic Duo were solid with each other prior to that match.